Is American civilization in decline?

Question

Some good solid reasons for why it is or why it isn't would be welcome.

Answer 1

No, it is not in decline!

Those who believe it to be in decline confuse decline with messy expansionism. Here in the United States people from all around the world come here to work, to play, to heal, to learn, to visit, to live. All of this contributes (in a rather messy way) to a healthy central core of desired existence. A process that few other cultures could handle and survive.

All of this continues while maintaining the cultural central core of the United States. That central core is the historical rooting in what is commonly referred to as ‘Old English Common Law.’ While such cultural history easily goes back over three thousand years into Saxon and Celtic Village Law which is the ultimate origin of individual freedoms as we view them in our current time.

That the United States has challenges, as it (and all other countries) always has, is true. Certainly, poor education (in some areas) is one such challenge. So is a turning away from actual science, as evidenced by the feverish emotions over global warming and conspiracy theories, however, these will pass and the central culture will remain and strengthen.

Answer 2

definite you're properly suited. After WW2, the centers of power became Washington D.C. and Moscow. the reason that there is any multiculturalism in Britain or Europe is using the fact it replaced right into a coverage imposed on those international locations by using usa below NATO. interior an analogous way, jap Europe had Communism imposed on it. The Crown owed a extensive debt to the U.S. for military help in the process the conflict. i think of she finished paying it off in 1998. no longer basically that, yet Britain decreased her military in the process the chilly conflict via NATO and warranted military help from the U.S. For Britain triumphing that conflict replaced right into a Pyrrhic victory. a lot of financial and political power replaced into transferred to the U.S. Britain used to regulate the midsection East -- now the U.S. and Israel administration it.

Answer 3

Not really, it is more a perception factor. It was never a "civilization" in a traditional sense to start with which makes the US so unique It is an economic and military power that has dominated but the end of cold war left the US stand tall for a short while. With globalization it is a moot point. Lousy foreign policies of late have damaged its image but the US was never in a traditional expansion mode to start with, like European countries in the past centuries.
www.foreignaffairs.org has knowledgeable writing by people directly involved in policy, governing etc. It is a fascinating world we live in.

Answer 4

I think so. Show me a a Athenian in the age of Pericles that was not happy to be a Greek or a Roman at the time of Augustine that despised his citizenship or a Persian that despised his standing as a subject to his great king. Show me a Brit that despised his empire at its height?
You only find such contempt of ones nation and culture in history before its fall.
PS
The Germans entered the Roman Empire for economic opportunity they got rich, the Romans got rich and it ultimately led to the collapse of the empire.-Historians all agree on this.
Wealth and trade tent to increase while cultures decline, it is only after total ruin that commerces is dealt the death blow because stability and security no longer act as deterrents to murders and robbers, opportunist and the like.
And because business prefers stability to instability it only invests in the former.
PS
Crw777 is right on the medium of Televistion (Radio to a far lesser extent) has rapadly unifyed the nation and been responsable for its moral decay to a grater extent that any other that I can think of.
PS
"The Religious Right"-has uterly fail to the detriment of our culture. Since the 1960's a casting away of moral absolutes,which hade many cuases, cupled with human biology,T.V.(Business altogether via marketing) and the baseness of human nature have gendered the brake down of the nuclear family and the sowing of confuntion in the socal relations of one to another throwout our whole socity.
The understanding of science has never been greater than it is today and it has not ever been understood by the masses.
I understand quit a bit about scince (Becuase I read alot.) and I reject darwinian theory like the RR, and lets face it you are getting at that!
The take over of education by the state (Public schools) has led to any responsability for educational decline seated soly in the seat of the Public schools and more specificly-teachers unions-they are in controol-they get the blame!

PS Babun & Robert 1
"We were never a civilization" this is uterly untrue.
The US has a culter, a civilization, and before commerce underminded it via TV and advertising it was one of the best in the world.
Your repeating German propaganda from pre-WW1 for more on this see- The Crisis of Islam- by Banard Lewis. And question your teachers for they are most unlearned.

Answer 5

Yes, it has been in rapid decline since the early 50's, when the broadcast media was introduced. This medium has been responsible for the death of moral values, as our children watch all this sickness on television, in magazines, video games, the radio, Cd's, and all other form of corruption. I am not saying that all the media is bad, but in this age it seems like the majority of it is geared toward violence, sickness and deprivation.

Answer 6

NO
Somebody once said thet the USA is the only nation that has gone from barbarity to decadence without becoming civilised

Answer 7

I think so - with how powerful the religious right has become and the utter ignorance the average person has of science it seems we will soon be far outpaced by Western Europe and Asia.

Answer 8

America didn't have past history of civilisation like the Greek,Roman and Mohenjodaro nor an ethnic existence and without these it is short lived.

Answer 9

Yes. We used to have a nation where we didn't need locks on our doors or windows. We used to be able to walk alone down a dark street and not have to carry pepper spray (or a gun). We used to be able to sit in our homes and not worry about someone driving by and shooting into the house or knocking down our mailbox as a prank. We used to not have to worry that a kid might shoot up our kid's elementary, middle, junior, high school or college. We used to have fewer people who didn't go to church. We used to have laws that protected all free speech, but now you can't have free speech if you are a Christian. We used to have kids who listened to authority rather than ignoring or attacking it. We used to have a nation in which you knew your neighbor and watched out for your neighbor's kids as well as your own. Now we have parents who think whatever their kids do is fine, even if they destroy someone else's property or keep them up with their noise at all hours of the night. We used to have a society in which you could sit in your house and not be bombarded by heavy bass that is bad enough to shake your entire house. We used to have a society in which people respected others enough that they'd keep their stereo down low enough that your apartment/townhouse neighbors wouldn't hear it, let alone be deafened by it. We used to have a society in which people would clean out their cars with their stereo loud enough that they could hear it, but now they have it on loud enough to literally be heard a mile away. We used to have neighborhoods where our kids could play without being killed. We used to have kids in the street playing, but now they sit in front of the TV, computer, or spend their time talking on their cell phones. We used to have kids who respected authority figures. We used to have kids who didn't feel a sense of entitlement and feel it is their lives and preferences that matter more than anyone else's. We used to have family dinners at the dining room table, where we all discussed what is going on in our lives. We used to talk to the people around us instead of talking to anyone else on the cell phone. (This includes the people we are with who get a phone call, and -- instead of just letting voice mail get it -- they answer that call and then talk for a very long time while ignoring you.) We used to have stores where we had a choice to buy non-slutty clothes for girls under age 10. We used to have a society in which people cared about and helped others. Now it takes a huge disaster for anyone to notice there are people who need help. We used to have churches that would make sure single people, or recently widowed/divorced people, had somewhere to go for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We used to have a tolerant society, but suddenly have turned into a society that dislikes anyone who doesn't share the same ideas. We used to have a society that valued the life of a baby. We used to have a society that valued education. Now more and more kids value gang symbols and time served. We used to have a society that would take kids away from abusive parents and put them in a safer environment. Kids used to be kids until they went off to college, now they are being bombarded with drugs, alcohol, sex and violence on TV -- and that's just commercials. The TV shows are even worse. We used to have a society in which Christian churches followed the tenets of the Bible, instead of "bending the rules". We used to have a society that understood some people, like mass murderers and child molesters, can't be rehabilitated. We used to have swift justice. Now were lucky to get it at all. (OJ Simpson). We used to have a society in which you would not get killed just because someone wants your shoes, watch, wallet, jacket, whatever that person envies. We used to have a society that valued school and learning and now our kids are just being taught how to take an exam.